美国第六代“下一代空中优势”战斗机早在2019年就已首飞

天蓝蓝

NGAD



Key Points and Summary on U.S. 6th Generation NGAD Fighters

-Worried the U.S. is lagging China’s splashy sixth-gen fighter reveals? Look behind the curtain. DARPA quietly had Boeing and Lockheed Martin build full-scale X-planes that first flew in 2019 and 2022, racking up hundreds of hours to de-risk the Air Force’s F-47 NGAD program.

NGAD Artist Photo. Image Credit: Creative Commons.© NGAD Artist Photo. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

-Demonstrators align with the record-setting jet hinted at by Dr. Will Roper in 2020; Lockheed’s only surfaced via a recent DARPA note. The takeaway: less hype, more head start.

6th-Generation Fighters: America Might Have a Good Head Start on China

In recent weeks, we at National Security Journal have offered ample coverage of developments in China’s effort to developsixth-generation fighter planes for thePeople’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). The  fighters in question are the Shenyang J-50 and the Chengdu J-36.

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The reports have been plentiful enough that readers could scarcely be blamed for thinking the United States is falling behind in the race to design and build a sixth-generation platform — especially considering that neitherthe U.S. Air Force’s F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) nor theUS Navy’s F/A-XX have generated an equivalent share of headlines.

But things aren’t as bad as they may seem at first glance.

In fact, it might be America that is ahead after all.

Re-Enter the X-Planes

When one sees or hears the phrase “X-planes,” chances are one thinks old school — as in, back to the Cold War era.

Specifically, the term recalls the Bell X-1, which thelate great Chuck Yeager flew when he became the first human to break the sound barrier in 1947.

One might also remember the rocket-powered North American X-15, whichflew at a mind-blowing Mach 6.7 (more than double the official max airspeed of the legendary SR-71 Blackbird) back in 1967.

(ILLUSTRATION) -- An artist illustration shows a flight of unmanned weapons carriers escorted by a sixth generation air dominance fighter during a combat mission over an undisclosed location. Mike Tsukamoto/staff; Airman 1st Class Erin Baxte.

That aircraft took flight long before hypersonic missiles, and aircraft such as the putative SR-72 Darkstar, became the objects of so much attention.

Well, as the saying goes, “Everything old is new again.”

In an aviation context, that truism springs from the title of a March 23 article in The Aviationist: “Boeing and Lockheed Martin Each Flew an X-Plane in Preparation for NGAD.”

Related video: A New Fighter Jet in China? It All Makes Sense Now (Millennium 7 * HistoryTech)

So everything started when I saw this video on the

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Millennium 7 * HistoryTech
A New Fighter Jet in China? It All Makes Sense Now

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The Basics on NGAD

To wit: “In another bit of information released after the U.S. Air Force selected the Boeing F-47 for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has now provided details about the origins of the program with a short press release.

“Under research and development contracts with DARPA, Boeing and Lockheed Martin designed two X-planes as risk reduction for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform,’ mentioned the press release. ‘These aircraft first flew in 2019 and 2022, logging several hundred hours each.’”

To put that in additional historical perspective, both the J-36 and J-50made their first officially documented flights on Dec. 26, 2024, which coincided withChairman Mao’s birthday.

Nitty-Gritty Details

TheBoeing bird was the one that first flew in 2019, giving that aerospace firm a lead overLockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, whose F-35 had beaten outBoeing’s X-32 in theJoint Strike Fighter fifth-generation stealth fighter competition two decades earlier.

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This specimen is most likely the same full-scale flight demonstrator thatDr. Will Roper, then assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, announced at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference in 2020. “We’ve already built and flown a full-scale flight demonstrator in the real world, and we broke records in doing it,” Roper said at the time

This revelation shed at least some light on previously unanswered questions, such as the manufacturer, and the timing of development and first flight.

As for Lockheed Martin’s demonstrator — the one that flew in 2022 — the DARPA press release is the first time it has been officially mentioned. (Perhaps the Lockheed Martin execs weren’t so eager to publicly acknowledge coming in second place in the NGAD race.)

That said, then-Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendallrevealed in 2023 that a secret, multi-agency X-plane program paved the way for NGAD.

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Although he didn’t specify the number of demonstrators involved, it was inferred that there was more than one.

Indeed, rumor has it that up to three demonstrator aircraft were involved in the program, with the third participant beingNorthrop Grumman. However, this rumor remains unconfirmed, and North Grumman decided in 2023 to withdraw as a prime contractor from the NGAD program.

As for what the Boeing and Lockheed Martin X-planes actually did, the DARPA press release quotesChief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David W. Allvin: “For the past five years, the X-planes for this aircraft have been quietly laying the foundation for the F-47 — flying hundreds of hours, testing cutting-edge concepts, and proving that we can push the envelope of technology with confidence.”

NGAD X-Planes - Where Are They Now?

Unsurprisingly, given the secret nature of the project, the current status and location of these X-planes is unclear, although it is quite possible that they are still active today and operating out ofGroom Lake’s famed Area 51.

About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He is also the author of the newly published book “Five Decades of a Fabulous Firearm: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beretta 92 Pistol Series.”